Skye Donardson

My husband still to this day makes fun of the fact that I participate in Second Life. Attempts on my part to explain to him and show him that SL is an amazing virtual environment, full of interesting and creative people, just gets an eyeroll on his part, partly because of the bad press SL usually gets of being a beehive of sexual deviancy. I find it such a shame that this aspect of it is all that anyone outside of it ever seems to concentrate on.

So I share my Second Life only with the other people inside it, and rarely tell anyone in real life about what I do inworld. And honestly, I have so much fun inworld…taking pictures, meeting new people, doing art exhibits, occasionally building, and blogging, that I feel it’s sort of a shame that I feel I can’t share that with anyone in my first life.

But, I guess that’s just how it is.

Second Life is therapy for me. It gets me out of my socially awkward shell, and lets me express my creative side in ways that I can’t do otherwise. And the endless imagination of the people in this world never cease to amaze me, and it’s seeing the amazing things that people can do in this medium that keeps me coming back.

I take the idea that this is “Your World, Your Imagination” seriously. I enjoy being able to become anything I want to be, and I love to scavenge around for new costumes to use, and vignettes to create. I like to create stories to go with the pictures I make, and often play multiple roles in my pictures if I can’t find a willing vict…I mean, friend to help me out.

Second Life has become part of my life, and I am forever grateful for it. While there have been bad times in it, just like in real life, most of it has been very positive. The places I’ve seen, the people I’ve met, and the things I’ve been able to accomplish in it, are going to stay with me forever.

Bio: I have been with my Skye avatar for over five years, but have been in SL one way or another for about eight. As I mentioned, other than making pictures I also blog, and I’m starting up my gallery again too. In RL I’m 44 and live in Houston, TX. I’m a former Marine, married with four kittens, love football, and work in the tech industry as an R&D lab technician.